AC/DC Bag included an Electric Funeral tease. Somewhere Over the Rainbow was played for the first time since August 13, 1996 (152 shows). Terrapin Station made its Phish debut at this show, as the band commemorated the third anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s passing.

Show Reviews

I was at Phish 8/9/98, Virginia Beach Amp. In honor of the third anniversary of Jerry's death they played Terrapin Station as the Encore. It still gives me chills and almost tear up at the very beginning when I listen to it. I can picture it like it was 5 min. ago. I miss those days of freedom and am grateful to have been there, and awsome close center seats as well with all my best buds!! I'll never forget Trey and Mike checking out the full moon directly behind the crowd facing the band.

this show is pretty solid. of course, the encore is what everyone knows about. falling 3 years after the death of jerry garcia, some reference was expected, but this is about the best tribute one could hope for. of course, this performance took place before trey and page's interactions with phil and friends or phil, bobby, or billy sitting in with the band. at this time, phish ran from anything that could link them to the dead. they were seeking individuality and then....

punch opens this one up nicely. page and trey work well in the intro. the band really get it going early in this show with a very strong bathtub gin 2 songs deep in the show. trey and page work back and forth beautifully in this one too. you know, just another great '98 bt gin. the rest of this set is well-paced, has good flow, good song selection, and has some good energy. the set closing bowie really works.

ac/dc bag opens the 2nd set in fine form. as they start working through the bag jam, they start to hit on some really nice sabbath/electric funeral licks. good stuff. i felt that the middle of this set is a little up and down. sparkle is nice and high energy, but it's not the most exciting tune, imo. antelope is nice and firey, but they really kill any momentum with brian and robert, waste, and somewhere over the rainbow. yem picks it back up. gordon sounds good in this one. frankenstein appears poised to close this one down, but they drop chalk dust and hello my baby. then they come out for the encore. as trey strums the opening of terrapin station, the crowd erupts. the whole band really nails this one. page has some really nice moments mixed in here but when it comes time for the "big terrapin climax riff," trey hits a homerun. what a tribute!

all in all, i would say this is a fairly missable show. the gin in the first set is really strong; the rest of that set is pretty solid. ac/dc bag shines to open the set, but the whole middle section of the 2nd set is a touch dull. they bring it home by the end though. if it weren't for the encore, i would say that without a doubt, I would take the merriweather show from the night before, but you know, they played terrapin at this show. hmm, i still probably would take the merriweather show.... bigger jams and you still get sabotage! solid show in VA Beach though with an excellent terrapin station

Another tape that was in HEAVY rotation during the end of the nineties, pre-hiatus.....just wanted to mention that the Waste>Rainbow was absolutely phenomenal, with Trey's layered, feedback-intense soloing as good as anything in that era. The Frankenstein was smoking as well, then of course, Terrapin.....you can almost hear the audience crying, and the cheering never let up throughout the entire vocal section, (right through the instrumental section before the last two verses) and they absolutely nailed the composed sections.....they could have done the whole thing through At a Siding, but I think they were emotionally drained. Truly awesome, once in a lifetime.

Ok, let's all take a deep breath. Yes, many Phish fans are also Grateful Dead fans. The members of Phish are also avowed fans, and both the band and the scene owe, and acknowledge, an immense debt to the trails blazed by the Dead. All of this is to say that I understand the powerful significance of Phish playing Terrapin Station as the encore to this show. I'm not being naive, or narrow-minded, and I am not trolling to get a rise out of my fellow phans.

Summer Tour '98 is remembered for all the surprise cover tunes that the band would break out almost nightly. Most of them were cool, but a little ragged, like the boys were daring themselves to get away with playing the song. Terrapin Station is *not* ragged; in fact, it is really well played, perhaps even cautiously played, as if the band wouldn't allow themselves to get away with a sloppy cover of a highly-esteemed Dead tune on the 3rd anniversary of Jerry Garcia's passing. It's one of the classic and classiest encores of the band's career. It's worth hearing just for the crowd reaction - truly awe-inspiring.

But as great as the encore is, IMO it doesn't make up for two of the weakest sets of the tour. I use the term "weakest" to reflect on the surprising strength of the rest of the tour - 3 shows from this tour have seen official release: 7/15, 7/20, and 8/11. Before listening to this show, I listened to all of the preceding shows starting with 7/31 Polaris. I thought the Polaris show was also on the weak side, but the other shows from Alpine through MPP were great, right there with the shows from the incredible West Coast run that started this tour.

Virginia Beach '98, to my ears, has three highlights: Terrapin encore, the jam out of AC/DC Bag (possibly the most upbeat Summer '98 jam), and the downright precious Waste->SOTR. All three are must-hear moments, standing with pride alongside other highlights from this tour. But the rest of the show gave me a case of the "meh"s. I can forgive the band for a lackluster first set Bathtub Gin, since the previous two versions were among the all-time best, but the Bowie and Antelope are very noodle-y, simmering but not boiling, and the funk jam in YEM lasts only slightly longer than the vocal jam.

I'm glad I listened to the whole show, and I can appreciate Phish shows where the highlights come in the quietest, most restrained moments. But I feel strongly that, top-to-bottom, this is a "below average Phish show", and with a show rating of 4.495, it is the most overrated Phish show on this site. If you are inclined to disagree with my opinions, feel free to PM me with an explanation, and I will give you a full refund on this show review

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